With modern wireline and wireless telephone systems, it is common for a given user to have one or more wireline telephone voicemail boxes and one or more wireless voicemail boxes. For example, a user may have a home wireline voicemail box, an office wireline voicemail box, a personal wireless voicemail box and a business wireless voicemail box. Such a user may receive voicemail messages at each such voicemail box, and the user is required to check each voicemail box separately at periodic times to insure that messages left at each voicemail box are heard and/or handled as required. Checking the voicemail messages at multiple voicemail boxes by separately connecting to each voicemail box is tedious and time consuming. Thus, there is a need for providing a user access to multiple voicemail boxes via a single connection.
In addition, often a user desires to connect to a given voicemail box from a number of different wireline or wireless devices, but the user is required to pass through an authentication process (for example, entry of a password or other authentication identification) to allow access to the voicemail box from a wireline or wireless telephone device not otherwise associated with the desired voicemail box. For example, a user may desire to call his wireless voicemail box from the wireless or wireline telephone of a friend or relative. There is a need to allow automated access to a given voicemail box from one or more trusted telephone devices.
It is with respect to these and other considerations that the present invention has been made.